Seaport Neighborhood - Infill and Discussion

[TheRifleman]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

What are the residential/office projections for the seaport?

I know what the Traffic Projections look like.
BUMPER TO BUMPER

 

[whighlander]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Jeff Downtown --

A lot of these shots feel like automobile canyons, devoid of life.

The most human friendly space captured is the area around the Barking Crab.

Funny -- I got exacctly the opposite feeling just last Friday

After the dedication of the Fallen Heroes Memorial in the Park -- I walked along Seaport Blvd crossed over to Congress and then headed to see where GE was going -- first Farnswoth then Necco before ultimately crossing the Summer Street Bridge enoute to the Common's field of flags


It felt like modern up-and-coming urban space -- I saw the long list of shops [see retail Thread] advertising their openings in the next few months

Of course its still a work in progress -- there is more construction happening right now in the Seaport / Innovation District than in some fairly large states

However, its impressive just seeing the progress that has been made in the few months since I last was in the area [early March when my wife and I attended the Flower show via the Silver Line]

I even saw a couple of tourists who had wandered over to Seaport Blvd because of the noise and smoke from the firing of the muskets

 

[mdd]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

A lot of these shots feel like automobile canyons, devoid of life.

The most human friendly space captured is the area around the Barking Crab.

Well...it is still all being built, what do you expect for now?

 

[JeffDowntown]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Well...it is still all being built, what do you expect for now?

I understand that, but I don't see Seaport Blvd. getting better. I see it getting worse as it builds out.

 

[citylover94]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Why do you see it getting worse?

 

[stick n move]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Iv said it before but ill reiterate. This is nothing but an asset to the city. If you dont like it dont go there. Its not like they bulldozed the north end to build this. They built on top of a sea of parking lots. The north end isnt going anywhere, the back bay isnt going anywhere, beacon hill isnt going anywhere. Boston is still the Boston everybody loves and this just creates greater diversity in the neighborhoods. If people want to go shopping in a brand new district on the waterfront they can. Honestly if they tried to make this into a north end it would have came out corny because they dont build buildings like that anymore.

Yes it could be better, but what cant. We had a huge need for office space and housing. Office space with a 250' cap is pretty much going to lead to what we see now. That being said its not even close to being finished and the proposals from here on out look amazing. If you dont like it here....dont come. Its simple. The people that like it here will. The great thing about Boston is how diverse the neighborhoods are. We should celebrate this. On another note I hope we get a liberty mutual somewhere in here- theres a ton of space left so maybe we will. Im a glass is half full type of person who also doesnt just look at a huge unfinished construction zone and then say this sucks. If you go there, walk around, and picture the m parcels, 121 seaport, pier 4, the church parcel will be a 3rd seaport square building...etc, were going to be fine. Ground floor is whats really important and there is going to be a lot of retail and little bars/restaurants here + a new harborwalk. Sometimes its nice to walk around in an area with a gridded street layout and shiny new retail. When it gets old the north end is a 15 min walk.

 

[quinninin]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Chronicle was a brand new episode on the development of the seaport. Very interesting that a lot of common complaints (wide roads, lack of difference in architecture, etc) are addressed.

 

[JeffDowntown]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Why do you see it getting worse?

It is just too wide, too automobile centric. Cold uninviting canyons of glass.

Certainly, though, the build out is better than the former parking lots. It just could have been much better.

Perhaps some of the interior developments, like Seaport Square, will change my opinion over time. All the new retail will certainly help.

 

[citylover94]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

I don't think the real issue is that the street is too wide. I think they should have built less wide streets having Seaport Blvd., Congress St., and Summer St. as wide streets was a mistake but I think if they had designed Seaport Blvd better it would be a much more pleasant place considering that at 132 feet wide it is wide but not any wider than some other very successful streets.

With four travel lanes:

With two travel lanes and turn lanes:

I would have kept Congress Street thinner like it is while in the Fort Point area I wouldn't of designed it to widen out and Summer St. I would have kept the width it is now because it was already established as a wider road. Any of the streets aside from Summer St and Seaport Blvd would have been no wider than 60 feet.

Example:

Trees and lampposts would alternate.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Do those images really need to be that huge?

 

[jl326]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

It is just too wide, too automobile centric. Cold uninviting canyons of glass.

Certainly, though, the build out is better than the former parking lots. It just could have been much better.

Perhaps some of the interior developments, like Seaport Square, will change my opinion over time. All the new retail will certainly help.

As someone who lives in the Seaport and who both walks and drives frequently in the area, I really like the fact that the boulevard is wide. I don't think walking in the area feels uninviting at all. I think the ongoing construction may give some people that sense, if anything. I find walking in the area quite relaxing actually.

This place is going to be densely populated. Car traffic will need space to flow. I think the worst thing to do would be to shrink or reduce the existing lanes. Could they plant some trees along the median to make the street more visually appealing? Sure, go for it. But reduce lanes?? No way!

 

[stick n move]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

If you take a stroll through the area it looks like a huge construction zone, even bigger than its ever been. People need to use their imaginations to see what the finished product is going to be instead of bashing a half finished product. The proposals look great and I also really like what I see now. People are going to love this neighborhood in a few years when they have a new shiny retail destination on the waterfront with parks, memorials, a mix of architectural styles, an art museum, the pier 4 steps to the water, whatever we get for the northern ave bridge. I like it here already but may more will follow suit in a few years I guarantee it.

 

[Czervik.Construction]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

I ould not agree more. As someone who has been gone from Boston for the better part of a decade, my memory of this area is a giant sea of parking lots that never made sense when a few hundred yards away was some of the most dense real estate in the country.
Few cities in the US have totally transformed an area in this way - and it is working - companies are moving in, condos are being sold and restaurants are opening up.

If you are still all wound up,

take advice from EPMD

If you take a stroll through the area it looks like a huge construction zone, even bigger than its ever been. People need to use their imaginations to see what the finished product is going to be instead of bashing a half finished product. The proposals look great and I also really like what I see now. People are going to love this neighborhood in a few years when they have a new shiny retail destination on the waterfront with parks, memorials, a mix of architectural styles, an art museum, the pier 4 steps to the water, whatever we get for the northern ave bridge. I like it here already but may more will follow suit in a few years I guarantee it.

 

[theSil]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

To me, Kendall Sq is the closest thing we currently have to the future Seaport, with its wide streets and mega-sized parcels. Walking around certain parts of Kendall can feel like you're surrounded by suburban office parks. Walking around the half finished Seaport this weekend, it already feels like it's going to be more of a neighborhood. The street wall is being filled with stores, and there are pedestrians at all hours. I agree that the majority of the buildings are bland, but at almost any location here you have a view of fort point and the financial district, so visually you are getting some architectural diversity; it's not glass and steel as far as the eye can see.

i'm among the optimists on this one.

 

[statler]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

For me, personally, the thing the Seaport is missing is layering. I enjoy neighborhoods that have had their story told over time. Even planned neighborhoods like Back Bay are old enough now to have been reshaped by time. This will happen eventually to the Seaport but not in my lifetime.
In the meantime it is a great neighborhood for folks who enjoy contemporary architecture (time wise, not style wise) of which there seem to be plenty!

 

[stick n move]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

^ all the new buildings are built around the fort point neighborhood. Im not sure how often you go to the seaport but if you enter from any direction other than the moakley bridge you are passing by very old and very nice brick and limestone buildings. Enter from the congress st bridge, summer st bridge, or from Boston wharf road and youll see that very old buildings actually out number the new glass towers by a lot. Theres really only a couple towers right now but theres dozens and dozens of brick and limestone warehouses/offices. Nobody takes pictures of them lately because theyre focused on the development but like I said actually go there from any route other than the moakley and its overwhelmingly old brick. I like the way it works out because you have to wander through the old stuff to finally end up at the shiny new waterfront.

 

[JeffDowntown]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

^ all the new buildings are built around the fort point neighborhood. Im not sure how often you go to the seaport but if you enter from any direction other than the moakley bridge you are passing by very old and very nice brick and limestone buildings. Enter from the congress st bridge, summer st bridge, or from Boston wharf road and youll see that very old buildings actually out number the new glass towers by a lot. Theres really only a couple towers right now but theres dozens and dozens of brick and limestone warehouses/offices. Nobody takes pictures of them lately because theyre focused on the development but like I said actually go there from any route other than the moakley and its overwhelmingly old brick. I like the way it works out because you have to wander through the old stuff to finally end up at the shiny new waterfront.

I actually like the way this aspect of the district works.

I am still trying to figure out how well it will work, though, once the Fort Point area and the rest of the Seaport are more contiguously connected. Coming in on Summer or Congress, and there is still an ocean of parking lots between the developed areas. What would work as an appropriate transition?

 

[stick n move]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Its already planned theres renders type boston seaport on google images.

 

[timsox6]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

I believe Jeff is referring to what style of architecture would be an appropriate transition from old to new. The only renderings we've seen of Parcel L3 to L6, along with Parcels N and P, are marketing materials and massing models. I think his question still holds: what architecture can effectively transition from brick to glass?

 

[JumboBuc]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Whenever I've walked around the Seaport lately I've been stuck by how much better the new (post-Recession) buildings are than the new-ish (90s and early 2000s) buildings. I feel like people on this board frequently talk about the Seaport as if all of the new buildings there are just like the ones on Seaport Blvd between B and D streets (Seaport East, Seaport West, Seaport Hotel). But just about everything that's been going up lately (PWC, Watermark, One Seaport Square, Envoy, etc...) is way more "urban" than those older-but-still-new buildings and interacts with the street-level significantly better.